


6:37pm

by ruxian



Series: Book of Pain [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Asphyxiation, Blood, Character Death, Exsanguination, Hurt No Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-14 00:50:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13582524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruxian/pseuds/ruxian
Summary: It was supposed to be an easy mission.





	6:37pm

**Author's Note:**

> :)

This mission wasn’t supposed to be this hard. 

Tracking down one human freshman, no matter what fear he raught, was not supposed to be hard. 

Theo wasn’t supposed to be fighting for his life in the tunnels he died in. But, here he was, desperately fighting Aaron off, fighting to keep the terror racing through his veins at bay, fighting to keep little human Mason safe. 

Scott had tasked him to keep Mason safe, and no matter how much he loathed the idea, he agreed. For some, stupid, unbelievable reason he had agreed. But now Mason was hurt and Theo was losing this fight. 

Theo really hated these tunnels. 

He took Aaron disappearing as a blessing, taking the time to check on Mason. 

Of course he couldn’t stand. Of-fucking-course. 

They need to find Aaron, and fast, but Mason can’t move and Theo can’t take his pain. 

_“You can’t take pain if you don’t care.”_ Mason had said, and Theo thought that those words hurt more than whatever bruises were forming on his body. 

He did care. He cared about getting them both out of there alive, he cared about getting Aaron, stopping the war that threatened his life. He cared about being better, about changing. 

Theo wasn’t able to do much before Aaron was back, forcing him into the fray once more. 

He was ashamed to say the fear had taken him over, making his movements harsh and sloppy. He missed more times than he could count, got hit more times than he could count. He was losing, badly. 

Mason was saying something, shouting, but Theo couldn’t hear him. He howled at Aaron, taking a swipe at him and getting thrown back against the rusted pipes. Rising to his feet again, he prepared for another blow, but it was pointless; Aaron had a different target in mind, and there was no way in Hell Theo could let him get there. 

He couldn’t let Mason get hurt. 

Mason, a defenseless little human, whose greatest strength was his mind. 

Mason, who Corey loved and betrayed him for.

Mason, who Scott had entrusted _him_ to protect, him, of _all people_. 

Mason, who was Liam’s best-friend in the entire world. 

Liam would kill him personally if anything happened to him. Liam would be so _hurt_ , so _broken_ if anything happened to his best-friend. 

And he didn’t want to hurt Liam.

So, when Aaron threw Mason across the hall, Theo was there in a second. 

The chimera wrestled Aaron back, hoping that Mason wasn’t too hurt because there was nothing he could do about it now. Aaron had an iron grip on his arms, bones creaking under his grip and muscles bruising faster than they could possibly hope to heal. Theo jerked his right knee up in quick succession, desperately trying to get Aaron off, to knock the wind out of him, anything, but it wasn’t doing much beside making his opponent angry. 

Aaron spun them around, moving his hands to Theo’s throat in a vice grip while he pinned him against the wall, a pipe digging cruelly into his spine. The chimera choked and sputtered, spit dripping down his chin and blood vessels in his cheeks and neck popping, face turning into a sick shade of blue as he fruitlessly clawed at Aaron’s arms. His feet were dangling now, though any kick Theo sent did no good. 

Black was swimming around the corners of Theo’s eyes now, gold fading into pale green. He could barely get any air down his throat, and by now his claws had receded. His ears started to ring, but he still heard Mason shout, something he couldn’t understand. Just as soon as the black static almost completely enveloped his field of vision, Mason was there with his damn, _stupid_ bat, knocking it into the back of Aaron’s head. 

When those hands left Theo’s throat, he swore to never take air for granted again. 

He fell hard to his knees, shaking hands fluttering around his trachea and jaw. His body reacted harshly to the sudden ability to breathe, coughing in a way that made him miss Asthma attacks. Bile burned the back of his tonsils, and maybe a bit of blood, but he couldn’t focus on that now. 

Because while Mason’s attack had gotten Aaron to let go of him, it also caused him to after Mason himself. 

Theo could barely see, and his ears were ringing so damn loud, but still he saw Aaron raise a hand, he heard Mason’s pulse jump impossibly higher. 

He had to stop it. 

It took far longer than it should have, and never had Theo hated his slow healing more than now, but he somehow made it across the hall on shaking legs just in time. 

Just in time to save Mason, to block him from harm, but also just in time for Aaron’s right hand to plunge into his own rib-cage. 

Theo let out a small strangled sound, hands flying up around Aaron’s, but it wasn’t too bad if he thought about it. After all, Tara had done this same thing enough times. 

Mason screamed behind him, a howl sounded somewhere above them, and before Theo could count to three Aaron had ripped his hand free and took off down the tunnels. 

Theo fell to his knees. 

Mason was there in a second, gently lowering him down onto the filthy sewer ground. Theo really hated this place. 

“Why did you do that?! Oh, God, what do I do…?” Mason babbled, shaking hands fluttering above where Theo was trying in vain to apply pressure. 

“I’ll… I’ll heal. It’s fine.” Blood was on his lips now, voice harsh and raspy. Mason looked terrified. 

There was sweat on the boy’s face, his eyebrows pursing together in undeniable concern. Mason shook his head a few times, looking seconds away from crying. He wanted to yell, wanted to shout at him to get that stupid look off his face because he was going to be _fine_.

It was a lie, he knew. He knew his body was already in overdrive, trying to heal from the strangulation, and now desperately trying to keep his blood inside his veins. 

It wasn’t. 

It was in his lungs and on the floor and dripping down his face from the corners of his mouth. 

Theo must’ve given Mason a look, or made a noise, because suddenly the scared expression was gone and a hand was firmly pressing down atop his own. 

“I’m-I’m gonna call Scott, okay? I’m gonna call Scott, and he and Liam are gonna get down here and _save_ your sorry ass, understand?” Mason sounded so sure, so determined, Theo was impressed and almost ready to believe him. 

Almost.

“O-Okay…” He breathed, because what else could he say, coughing on more of his own blood.

Yeah, he really missed Asthma now. 

Mason nodded at him far too many times, looking the most determined he had ever seen him, but still oh so scared. 

Theo stared at the ceiling while Mason babbled away on the phone, lungs rattling and filling with more blood on every breath. He should be more concerned that he could barely hear Scott’s voice on the other end of the call, or that he didn’t hear Liam sprinting through the tunnels a minute later, but he wasn’t. 

He supposed it didn’t matter, now. 

The beta skidded to a stop next to him, instantly on his knees. Theo slid his eyes over to him, drinking in his bright blue eyes and windswept hair. Liam looked terrified, eyes sweeping over his body and breaths harsh, hands hovering in front of himself like he had no idea what to do. Theo supposed that was fair; he didn’t know what he’d do either.

“Hey…” He muttered, ignoring the sharp pain flying through his near crushed windpipe. 

Liam met his gaze with wide eyes, shaking his head minutely before he sprung into action. 

The beta scooped up Theo’s upper body, pulling him into his lap and shooing Mason’s hands (when did he put both of his hands there?), replacing them with his own, much stronger right hand, left cradling his head in a grip so gentle Theo wasn’t sure it was Liam’s. 

“What happened?” Liam asked, voice shaking just a tad too much to be calm.

“Couldn’t just let… let your best-friend… die.” Theo choked, blood dripping down his chin and onto Liam’s arm. 

Mason and Liam both looked horrified.

His poor body didn’t know what to heal first; he could feel his lungs try to stitch back together, could feel his trachea try to repair itself, but it was barely doing anything. There was far too much damage, and they all knew it. 

Scott came skidding on his knees next to Mason just then, and once again Theo mused that he didn’t hear a thing. He couldn’t really feel anything, either, though he knew his body was shaking. Still, he turned to face the alpha, with as grin as wide as he could make it. 

“Guess we’re even now, eh, Scott?” He tried to chuckle, to meet Scott’s eyes, but instead wound up coughing up more blood. It fell on the floor. 

“No, you’re not even!” Liam cried, and Theo turned his smile back to the ceiling for a moment before looking back at Scott. He looked sad, but knowing. 

“Yeah, we’re even. Been even, Theo.” The alpha said gently, placing a hand on his arm. 

Theo swallowed hard, ignoring how thick his blood was, and met Scott’s eyes. He brought his stained hand up to grip Scott’s, hold tight as he could muster. 

“I-I’m sorry… About–about everything…” His body was rocking and shaking too much now, lungs rattling and spasming on every breath. Scott nodded at him, hand gripping his firmly. “Y-You have to tell Stiles… You have to–to tell everyone… that I’m sorry…” He sounded so pathetic, so weak, voice rasping and barely audible, but he didn’t have any reason to try to fight it. 

Didn’t have time. 

“You can tell them in person, you idiot!” Liam shouted, pulling him closer and sounding seconds from crying, but Theo ignored him, eyes locked on Scott. 

“Promise me, please, p-promise me, I’m–” He choked, and Scott, oh so compassionate Scott, with tears in his eyes, nodded at him and gripped his hand tight enough it would have hurt any other time.

It should have hurt. 

“I promise. I’ll tell Stiles, I’ll tell everyone, okay? I promise.” Theo nodded weakly at him, not wasting any of his borrowed time as he turned to Liam, gripping Scott’s hand once before letting it go. 

Instead, he gripped the sleeve of Liam’s red jacket, tugging him closer as he swallowed more blood. 

Liam, looked frantic, scared and if Theo were more conscious he might even be able to tell if those really were tears in the beta’s eyes, but as it was he could barely keep his eyes open. 

Liam’s left hand moved around Theo’s head, down his neck and shoulder and back again, each time with a small pause. Theo knew what he was trying to do. 

“I-I can’t take your pain… Why can’t I take your pain…?!” Liam cried. “Scott, why can’t I…” He sounded so desperate, so hurt, Theo decided to have mercy just this once. 

Because he knew Liam cared. 

“I-It doesn’t…” He choked, body shaking and spasming. The flow of blood under Liam’s hand was slowing down, now. “It doesn’t hurt…” He breathed once he could, vaguely registering Mason’s shaking hand grip onto his thigh.

It took effort, but he locked eyes with Liam, and yes, those were indeed tears pooling in his blue eyes. 

“T-Thank you, Liam… For–” He coughed, and he knew he didn’t have much time left, now. “For bringing me back–for letting me stay… For–For making me want to... to change…” His teeth were stained red and pink, and there were clots on his tongue, but he forced a smile anyway. A real one, for once. 

“Shut up!” Liam shouted, with just a hint of a growl underneath. “You’re not dying, stop talking like you’re dying!” The werewolf said, but even so he had stopped applying pressure to his chest in favor of clutching to his body. 

“You’re… You’re my responsibility, and I’m not ready to give that up yet, okay you asshole?!” Liam half-screamed at him, but the tears falling onto Theo’s cheeks betrayed any anger in his voice. “You’re–You’re gonna be fine, you’re gonna keep annoying me, and keep stopping me from killing people, okay? So…” Liam choked on a sob. 

Theo swallowed again, jaw shaking and bottom lip shaking. And hey, maybe there were tears in his eyes, too.” 

“I-It’s okay… Liam, it’s okay… D-Don’t…” _Don’t cry over me._ The beta shook his head frantically at him, shouting for him to shut up, and he heard Mason make a sort of choked sound next to him. It didn’t matter, even if he thought it was odd that anyone was crying over him. He didn’t deserve it.

It took all of his energy, maybe the last of it, but Theo managed to move his hand to grip Liam’s, blood slipping between their fingers as he interlocked them. Liam’s grip nearly broke his hand, but it was fine. 

He didn’t need it now, anyway. 

Theo locked eyes with Liam, opening his mouth a few times to say something, anything, he didn’t know but his voice wasn’t working anymore. 

His sister’s heart was giving out now, speeding up into an irregular pulse as it tried to pump blood somewhere, to any organ that would take it, but Theo’s blood was all over Liam and Scott and Mason and the floor, and there was none left for him to use. The muscles in his body seized a few times, making him rock and shake in Liam’s grip. All three people gripped him tighter.

“I…” It was barely a sound, Liam’s eyes fading to gray, and Theo couldn’t breathe anymore. “I wi–” _I wish we had more time, together._

Because that was Theo’s last breath, and the hand holding Liam’s lost its grip entirely. Green eyes went blank, dull, boring deep into Liam’s blue. 

Liam screamed when Theo’s heart stopped, shaking his body over and over. 

“Scott, do something…! Please, no, do something, _please!_ ” He cried, but Scott said nothing, sitting back on his calves and wiping the tears from his face. 

“This is all my fault…” Mason muttered, staring unblinkingly at the chimera’s body. “He died _protecting me_. Even after I said awful things to him, he _saved my life_ , I…” 

“He’s not dead!” Liam screamed, voice cracking from the force of his pain. “He-He can’t be… H-He’s playing a trick on us, he can control his heartbeat… He can’t be dead, he can’t–” Liam cried, bringing a blood-slick hand up to Theo’s cheek, just under his unseeing green eyes. There were tears on it. 

“Liam… Liam he’s gone.” Scott whispered, because as much as he wished it weren’t true, the scent of death was started to float around them, cutting through the heavy miasma of Theo’s blood. 

He was supposed to keep everyone safe, and he had failed. 

Again. 

Liam was fully sobbing now, rising Mason from his frozen stupor enough to make him move over to his beta’s side. Scott reached over to close Theo’s eyes. Liam rocked Theo’s body, Mason gripping his shoulders tightly. 

There was nothing anyone could do now. 

Scott checked his phone, wiping fresh tears from his face. 

_Time of death, 6:37pm._

**Author's Note:**

> I'M REALLY SORRY BUT ALSO I'M NOT.
> 
> come yell at me on tumblr or twitter (@/rux_ian)


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